Dr Rosenrosen wrote:Disasterous? Fiasco? Did you two really want a first choice who felt intimidated by the role? There's your disaster.

“Not about the players, but part of what I learned was that this is an intimidating position to take — and I sensed that when I talked to some of these guys,” Rutherford said of the search that ended with the hiring of Johnston.

I'm not upset at all over the head coaching hire. I was just pertaining to how he alluded to the apparent 3rd choice head coach.

I was being sarcastic. Forgot to throw a at the end of the post. I like the coaching staff, hopefully they'll be able to find a way to overcome how bad our captains are, giving away James Neal for practically nothing, and everything Chirpin' Grinder complains about.

mikey287 wrote:Didn't read the thread. Hitch and Agnew are rather tight. Agnew worked with the forwards and the power play in St. Louis for the most part.

Did he have the same responsibilities in Columbus? If Spiro has a long history of working with forwards, the hiring would seem a bit odd to me just because I imagined that would be Tocchet's responsibility, leaving the Pens without a defense/PK coach, unless Johnston decides to be the one to focus on that area.

“I’m really looking forward to development camp,” Johnston said. “We get to see some of the depth players and players that have been in the AHL. There will be interaction with the players and getting to know the players. We’ll be giving the players a brief overview of how we’re going to play.

“And we get to work as a staff.”

After development camp, Johnston — who said he has touched base with “90 percent” of the Penguins players — will tag along with strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar on his annual trip to Moscow to work with center Evgeni Malkin. Johnston wants to meet Malkin in person and get to know him.